Members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the legacy parties for the formation of All Progressives Congress (APC) have decried the incessant exclusion from the scheme of things in the party, especially their “deliberate exclusion from the recently concluded congress of the party in the Lagos State chapter”.
The aggrieved defunct CPC members whose bloc has formed a caucus now known as APC Change Vanguard in a petition addressed to the Chairman, Lagos State Congress Appeal Committee of APC, Barr. Fatima Zahra Umar stated that despite all efforts upon several appeals to get involved since the eventual formation of APC in the Lagos chapter, the ACN bloc has continued to sideline their members.
The leadership of the APC Change Vanguard Group in Lagos State in the petition issued on issued on Saturday, October 30 and signed by its Coordinator, Prince Lanre Rufai alongside another leader of the group, Chief Thomas Adu described their exclusion from the State Consensus Congress held on Saturday, October 16, 2021 as appalling.
According to the Caucus Coordinator, “In fact, it is the usual practice of the State party leadership to conduct consensus congress by exclusion, contrary to the party’s constitution and we refrained from conducting any parallel congress.”
The Caucus members emphasized that since 2014, they have never benefitted from the party structure, despite their contributions and active participations to all activities leading to the party formation and eventual successes at the poll in Lagos and by extension, Nigeria.
They described the continued exclusion as an unprecedented act of impunity and greed which must be urgently addressed by the leadership of the party.
The aggrieved members, many of whom are loyalists of President Muhammadu Buhari from their days in the defunct CPC, however, urged the Congress Appeal Committee for Lagos State to take remedial actions on the matter in the spirit of fair play, justice and unity of the party, hoping that it would save the party from obvious consequences as the next general elections draws near.
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